Category: Beard & Sword

I went to the show at Lola’s last weekend. It was awesome. Calhoun and Son of Stan were both in top form. Because I have to document everything, during the sets I grabbed my trusty iPhone 4 and recorded these 2 videos. Enjoy!

The guys in Horses are some of my best friends ever, so obviously I’m going to say nice things about their band. But in all honesty – THEY. WERE. AWESOME. This show at the Aardvark was a CD Release Party for the First Street Audio. It was a compilation CD of various artists who had recorded at Bart’s old studio over on Bluebonnet Circle. I’m sure I still have about 50 copies if you want one. Enjoy!

And of course, more pictures:

Whoa! I wonder if Danny saves these. It’s like a time capsule of sorts.Honchie! At the Aardvark!Cliff Wright, catcher of bass.Jordan Richardson, Cooper Heffley & Jim KeithJim is like, “You two are so silly.”

This show was one of my favorite shows ever. I think it was our 2nd time to play the Wreckroom, and we got to play with Pablo & the Hemphill 7. They were my Fort Worth reggae heroes, and they still are. In the playlist below, I’ve got 19 tracks of theirs. These guys were amazing from the start.

Valentine’s Day 2004 was so romantic. I know where I was – at the Moon bar of course! Camino was playing a couple of sets that night. I recorded the first set, but I can’t find the second set anywhere. Maybe I was out of minidiscs. Lol. Minidiscs. Those were a thing back then.

Now here’s a blast from the past – Soviet Space at the Aardvark on Nov. 1, 2003. It was Voigt’s EP Release Show. Soviet Space, Voigt and Darth Vato. Those were the days. Cheers!

Here are a few more pics:

Voigt at the Aardvark (Nov. 1, 2003)Remember when Jordan played drums for Voigt?Even Ken was there! And that one guy on harmonica!Darth Vato, featuring Steve Steward and his Flea Signature Modulus Bass

So I found an old hard drive in my closet. It turns out that I used to record a lot of live shows. So I figured I’d start posting them here. To start, we’ll go back to March 19, 2005. Chatterton was playing a show at the Moon. Enjoy!

I went to see The Apache 5 at Lola’s last night. It was pretty damn awesome. And to make it even awesomer, Kevin Aldridge & the Appraisers were also playing the show. Now that I’m a dad, I don’t make it out to shows as often as I used to. So when I had the chance to see two of my favorite bands in one night, I had to find a way to get out of the house and stay up past midnight.

I’m really glad I went. It turns out that the show was part of the The Good Show‘s Live Music Series, so I got to see Tony Diaz. I love that dude. He’s just super stoked about local music and live music and music in general. And he loves Fort Worth. I remember playing a couple of the FWAC events that he put on several years ago. Those events were awesome. Tony is a really positive guy. Just so upbeat. I dig that about him. But enough of my Tony Diaz lovefest…

I also ran into Kenny Wayne, and we got to talk about amps for a while. Which was super awesome. We got to chat about vintage amps, too! Two dudes talking amps…does it get any better than that? I don’t think so.

And if you didn’t know, Kenny has started his own amplifier company called Mockingbird Amps. The dude knows his stuff. Kenny masterminds the electronic guts of the amp, and then he’s got Greg Pate doing all the cosmetic work, building some of the most beautiful custom cabs I’ve ever seen. To date, I have only seen a handful of designs, and they all look amazing! #want

One of Kenny Wayne’s Mockingbird Amps made for Jordan Richardson

I don’t know how you feel about your friends doing something awesome, but it makes me super happy to see my friends creating music. In the grand scheme of things, we are not here for a very long time. There’s lots of stuff we could be doing. In my opinion, making music is one of the greatest things we could ever do. In conclusion, it was an amazing show, and I’m really glad I got to be there to experience it.

At the show, I was able to grab a couple of videos on my iPhone, and I wanted to share them here. So here you go:

George Strait showed up and in typical fashion just killed it last night at the venue opener for the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, TX. Joined by country music stars Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton and Lee Ann Womack, King George took the stage around 9:30pm and delivered a fantastic 105-minute performance to a sold-out stadium. I have seen estimates on the number of tickets sold, and it is somewhere in the vicinity of 60,000.

Until George Strait took the stage, the roof of the stadium remained closed. From early reports, the acoustics in the stadium started off echoey but got extremely clean and sharp by the end of the show (yeah, they are fine tuning that place, but it’s definitely awesome). And with the roof closed, the stadium retains pretty much every last drop of sound. When Mr. Strait took the stage, he got the crowd to chant, “Jerry, open that roof!” And as any good story ends, the crowd won. Jerry Jones probably loved seeing a crowd in such good spirit, and with the flick of a switch on a $1.15B stadium, the roof opened up.

George Strait on the World’s Biggest HDTV at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX

As reported a couple of weeks ago, one of the coolest things at this stadium is the $40 million Mitsubishi HDTV. Everyone was wondering if this HDTV would be used at the concert. The answer was a resounding YES!. This massive HDTV provided a crystal-clear image of George Strait and all the other performers to everyone in the stadium, even the fans in the nosebleed section. I’m not sure if there is a bad seat in that new Cowboys stadium.

Despite reports of the possibility of massive traffic congestion and other problems that go along with a brand new 3 million square foot venue, the show went off with relatively few problems. I have seen reports of parking being in the range of $30-$60, and there was even reports of an eBay scam for fake parking tickets. Also, t-shirts were on sale for $30. And you had better hit up the ATM machine if you wanted to stay hydrated – bottled water was going for $5.

Jerry Jones Dancing with former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson

Probably the one of the biggest surprises was the appearace of Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones in a suite. Together. Getting along. When the crowd saw them on the big screen, it took a second to figure out who it was. But then a loud cheer rang out. Cowboys fans love themselves some Jimmy Johnson. And from my perspective, it’s good to see these two guys making friends. It’s been long enough. Glad to see it.

Well, I’ll leave you with some more pictures from the George Strait concert at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium (source):

Carter Albrecht’s Solo CD Release Party will be tonight at the Granada Theater. The CD, titled Jesus is Alive…and Living in London, features 9 original tracks by Carter Albrecht. Just in case you need to copy and past the details, here you go:

Carter Albrecht was a musical inspiration, and he certainly has a place in the hearts of Darth Vato. Carter was a Jedi, and the quality of his solo CD only proves it even more. Here is the track list for Jesus is Alive and Living in London:

Carter Albrecht CD – Jesus is Alive…And Living in London

Jesus Light

Country Living

Rome

Rivers Into Rum

When You’re Younger

Jesus Is Alive…and Living in London

GODOT

Sparrows

The Sign

I hope you are able to make it out to the show tonight. Be sure to pick up a CD, too. It is amazing. If you can’t make it to the show, you can pick up the CD on iTunes here. And if you’re just really interested in more information on Carter Albrecht, here are some awesome links:

A friend of mine passed away this morning. Jon Ward was awesome. He was a friend. He was a fighter. He was diagnosed with 2 types of cancers 365 day ago, and he’s been fighting for his life every day since that moment. Jon, we’re going to miss you, brother. I remember getting pissed when you were knocking people around in the pit at our shows because we had to deal with the aftermath of angry fans and even angrier club owners. But there was a part of me that was always glad to see you starting a pit because people in Fort Worth still don’t know what to do when a band starts to play a punk song. You were definitely a visionary in that realm, and when you started a pit, you made us feel like we were a badass punk band. When the scene changed from a punk show pit to a hospital bed, you continued to show us how courageous and brave you were. I oftened wondered if I could put up the same fight if I had to. I’m not sure I would have been able to do it. You were an inspiration to us all. Now there’s no more pain and you’re in a better place. Speaking of that, you’ve got the only Darth Vato tattoo in all of Heaven. Hopefully, St. Peter is okay with that! Jon, we love you and wish you the peace that only God’s love can bring. God bless you and your family. We’re going to miss you.